Theodor Severin Kittelsen was a Norwegian artist born April 27, 1857 in the little coastal town of Kragerø in the South of Norway in a merchant family. Theodor was the second of eight children. From the early childhood drawing fascinated the boy, and dreamt to become a painter or a sculptor.

Theodor was 11 when his father Johannes died, and the family came down to a very modest life standing. So, Theodor had to earn the living since when he was a boy. He became an assistant to a watchmaker in Kragerø. Even at that time the people around him admired his drawings. Some of them persuaded Theodor into traveling to Christiania (the capital of Norway, now Oslo) and gave him money therefore. He worked as a decorator’s apprentice for a while but the work turned out to be too hard and it was very far from what he expected. Theodor returned home and decided to become a mariner. Strolling along the seaside he looked with delight and hope at steamers, but the beauty of nature, by which he had been admired since childhood, fascinated him more. So, one fine day Kittelsen clinched to become an artist.

In 1882 Kittelsen was granted a state scholarship to study in paris. In 1887 he returned back to Norway for good. When back in Norway, he found nature to be a great inspiration. He spent the next two years in Lofoten where he lived with his sister and brother-in-law at Skomvær Lighthouse. Kittelsen also started to write texts to his drawings here.

Theodor Kittelsen and his family settled in a home and artist studio which he called Lauvlia near prestfoss during 1899. Kittelsen spent his best artistic years here. During this period, Kittelsen was hired to illustrate Norwegian Folktales (Norwegian: Norske Folkeeventyr) by the Norwegian folklore collector peter Christen Asbjornsen and Jorgen moe. In 1908 he was made Knight of the The Royal Norwegian order of st. olav. However, he was forced to sell and leave Lauvlia in 1910 as his health began to fail. He was granted an artist’s stipend in 1911 but died a broken man in 1914.